A REMARKABLE public servant - who became a top council official despite leaving school with no qualifications - has died.

Neville Fearneyhough became the borough solicitor for Darlington council after gaining qualifications while interned in a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany.

Mr Fearneyhough, died aged 90, in hospital on Tuesday.

Originally from Tyneside, he attended elementary school in Gateshead, where he won a scholarship to the local grammar school.

However, he never went there because his parents did not think he was suitable. Instead, he left school at 14 and undertook secretarial training.

He had jobs as a committee clerk at the former Gateshead Town Council and in administration at Durham University, before joining the RAF as a navigator-observer in the war.

In 1943, after a mission in the Ruhr Valley, his Halifax bomber was shot down over Holland.

He was hidden by the Dutch resistance before being captured by the Gestapo and taken to a PoW camp in eastern Germany.

At the camp, he managed to escape, but was later recaptured.

However, during his time at the camp, he taught himself Latin and took his School Certificate, getting enough credit to matriculate. When he was repatriated in 1945, he began to take his solicitor's articles.

His daughter, Sue Christie, said: "He never really talked about his time in the war and we only found out about it recently.

"It was a very difficult time because he had a job and had to take unpaid leave to study for the solicitors' exam.

"He also came back to my brother, Michael, who was two years old and who he had never seen."

Mr Fearneyhough's first job in the legal profession was as an assistant solicitor at Sunderland Borough Council, before getting a job at Chatham, in Kent.

He returned to the North-East and took a position as deputy town clerk at Darlington in 1959.

When local government reorganisation took place in 1974, he became the borough solicitor, before retiring in 1980.

In his retirement, he worked for the Samaritans and travelled widely with his wife, Jean.

Mrs Christie said: "He was a very loyal public servant and always did his best for the ruling group council.

"Although he was a strong democratic socialist, he didn't have political prejudices in his work.

"He was a tenacious character who loved an argument.

"He was very pleased that Michael and I went to university and that he had helped us both to get a good education."

Mr Fearneyhough's funeral is at 10.15am on Monday, at Darlington Crematorium. Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to the International Glaucoma Association.